Masquerade
by multifandomxgurl
Summary: Stella's the it girl, Brandon's the quiet guy. When they meet, sparks fly. But Stella has a dark past and secrets to hide. Will she keep up this masquerade? Human AU. (T for language, might go up in the future)
1. Chapter 1

"I am not kidding, that kid is totally into you," Bloom gushed as she tucked a strand of fiery red hair behind her ear. Her blue eyes sparkled as she continued on, "Turn around, look!"

"Oh come on, he's definitely staring at you, not me," Stella replied after she turned to look, her rosy cheeks blushing a dark crimson. "Besides, he only glanced at me twice the whole time we were here."

"Are you really going to decline that compliment?" Musa asked from beside the blonde, gripping her coffee cup as she brought it towards her lips to take a sip. "You know everyone in the entire school wants to look like you."

This was no lie; Stella was the most envied and wanted girl in school. With her long, luscious blonde locks and the features of a Greek goddess, there was no shortage of guys (or girls) that wanted to be with her.

"You two are adorable, I swear," Stella dismissed the compliments with a nonchalant laugh, though her heart swelled with pride. She knew Musa was only stating a fact. "At least Flora here knows better than to flatter me."

Her eyes locked on her phone, the brunette let out a small hum of response when she heard her name being mentioned. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Busy texting prince charming, huh?" Bloom playfully nudged Flora, and the girl reddened.

"No, dummy, I was going through Instagram!" Flora waved her phone in the redhead's face to prove her statement, and the other girl rolled her eyes. Then, Flora turned to face the blonde. "Anyway, Stel, did you say something?

"We're just talking about that guy over there," Musa nodded her head towards the direction of the guy who was serving a customer. "He was a hundred percent checking Stella out."

"He's cute," Flora raised her eyebrows in surprise. With a wink, she replied teasingly, "You should ask him out."

"Are you kidding me? He looks at least fifteen!" Stella's mouth dropped open as her friends burst out into peals of laughter. "I wouldn't be caught dead with someone younger than me!"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Bloom chuckled, dodging a meek attempt of a slap on the hand from the blonde.

"That was one time!" Stella cried in embarrassment, flushing at the memory of when she had been caught making out with a fifteen-year-old boy by Musa. She checked her wristwatch and gasped. "Gosh! Look at the time. I gotta go, or my mom's going to kill me."

"I'll drive you home," Bloom offered, standing up as she pulled on the strap of her purse over her shoulder. "I need to be home soon anyway."

"See you girls tomorrow!" Flora smiled and waved along with Musa as Bloom and Stella walked out of the coffee shop.

-:-

After waving goodbye to Bloom and thanking her for dropping her off, Stella reached for the keys in her pocket to open her front door.

As soon as the door swung open, raised voices boomed out.

"Oh no, please, not again," Stella mumbled under her breath, her brows stitching into a frown. The blonde immediately slammed the door open and raced to the direction of where the voices were coming from - the living room.

"If you think I'm going to let you go that long again, you better think carefully!" Stella's mother, Luna, threatened, her light blonde hair swirling around her head like a platinum storm.

"God! Why do you have to act so possessive?" Jason, Luna's boyfriend, shouted angrily. "I'm taking extra shifts to support you and your daughter and all you do is complain about it!"

"Maybe I wouldn't complain about it if you didn't keep secrets from me!" Luna hurled back, not seeming to notice her daughter standing meekly in the doorway.

"You don't tell me what to do," Jason seethed, his tone eerily calm suddenly, but unmistakably dangerous. "You can't control my life."

Stella's heart pounded so loudly in her chest, she could feel it in her ears. _No_ , she pleaded silently. _Stop_.

"Shut up, you son of a bitch!" Luna screamed, grabbing a vase on the coffee table before hurling it against the wall, shattering it into millions of pieces.

Stella shrunk back as she clapped her hands over her ears to drown out the deafening sound. _Please stop_ , she cried silently, sudden tears sprung to her eyes as memories came flooding back.

 _Raised voices. Shattering glass. Blood everywhere._

Her heart shattering into pieces, much like the destroyed vase on the floor.

" _Stop_!" Stella finally managed to choke out before sobs rocked her body as she fell to the floor in a heap.

Suddenly noticing Stella at the corner of the room, Luna immediately rushed over to her daughter and wrap her arms around her shaking body. "Shit. Oh baby, I'm _so so so_ sorry you had to see that," she comforted quietly, rubbing Stella's back soothingly as the girl sobbed her heart out. "Shh, it's all over now. It's not going to happen again."

Jason only stared at the two of them, his eyes glassy with tears. The guilt that enveloped him was unbearable. He and Luna shared a meaningful look before he disappeared up the stairs, a door closing shut not long after.

-:-

 **THE NEXT MORNING**

Stella was almost done with her makeup when a knock sounded on the door. "Darling, are you awake?" A familiar voice sounded muffled from the other side. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," Stella pursed her lips as she looked at her reflection in her vanity mirror.

The door opened, revealing Luna in the doorway. The woman flashed her daughter a rueful smile. "Oh good, you're almost ready. Do you want me to send you to school?"

"No, it's alright. Bloom's picking me up," Stella didn't bother turning to face her mother and continued putting on lip gloss. "And I'll make my own breakfast."

Luna nodded in response. A silence followed before Luna inhaled a deep breath and said, "Listen, I'm really sorry you had to see our fight last night-"

"No, you know what? It's alright, Mum. I don't want to talk about it," Stella shrugged her broad shoulders, grabbing her designer bag on the edge of her bed and standing up to head out of her bedroom.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, concern clear as crystal in her voice as she stood in front of the door to prevent Stella from taking a step further.

Stella forced out a smile. She hoped the bags under her eyes wouldn't betray how she felt after the sleepless night she had. "Yeah," was all the blonde said before she gently pushed past her mother and started walking down the staircase.

"Darling, are you sure?" Luna turned and paced after her.

Stella stayed silent until she reached the end of the stairs. "Positive. It's not like it's never happened before. You and Jason fighting, I mean," she sent her mother a grim smile.

"Stella-" Luna started.

"Listen, Mum, I would love to talk more but I'm late for school, and I think I just heard Bloom pull up," Stella interrupted before her mother could continue. "Bye. Don't wait up for me."

Before Luna could even open her mouth to protest, the front door had already slammed shut behind Stella.

The blonde immediately rushed down the driveway and out the gate, feeling tears stinging her eyes. To her relief, Bloom had already arrived, as Stella didn't think she could spend another minute in her house while her mother was still there.

"Hey, Stel!" Bloom greeted cheerfully as Stella opened the door to the passenger's seat, but the redhead's smile faltered when she saw the look on her best friend's face. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, let's just go," Stella replied almost curtly, and tried to blink back the tears. She reached for the seatbelt but stopped when she saw the hurt look on Bloom's face.

"I'm sorry, Bloom," the blonde said apologetically, "I'm not in the mood to talk right now, but I'll tell you later, at school."

"Alright," the other girl replied hesitantly before slowly driving off.

-:-

Stella tried desperately not to yawn as she stared at the blackboard at the front of the class. She was a straight A student, definitely, and she was no doubt intelligent, but Science had to be her least favourite subject out of all of them. It also didn't help that the teacher, Mr Scott, was always condescending towards the students, straight A student or not.

The blonde reached into her pocket to take out some bubblegum that she hoped could relieve her of her boredom.

As soon as she unwrapped the wrapper and popped the gum into her mouth, a timid knock sounded on the door.

His voice clearly showing annoyance, Mr Scott called out, "Come in!"

The door creaked open to reveal a brown-haired guy in the doorway, one arm holding up the bag that was dangling off his shoulder. Stella could see that he was wearing glasses, but the hoodie he was wearing blocked the blonde from seeing his face.

"Are you Mr Scott?" the brunet asked.

"Yes, may I help you?" the teacher raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms against his chest.

"I'm Brandon. I'm a new student here, and on my timetable it says that Science is my first subject," he replied.

"Oh! Right. The principal told me about you," Mr Scott nodded, uncrossing his arms and gesturing to the other students. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

The brunet finally turned to face the class, and Stella could've swore her heart melted at the sight of him. His black-rimmed glasses framed the most beautiful chocolate eyes Stella had ever seen, and his brown fringe fell over his eyes in the most adorable way. His smile was small but sweet, and it took every nerve in Stella's body to not squeal when the smile stretched into a nervous grin. He's absolutely gorgeous, Stella thought.

"Hey, I'm Brandon, nice to meet you all," he spoke quietly, waving his free hand for a brief second.

Mr Scott nodded in approval before saying, "You can sit in that empty chair, in the back, next to Solaria."

Stella's eyes widened when she finally processed what the teacher had said. Before she realised it, Brandon had already dumped his bag on the floor and sat on the seat next to her.

 _Stay calm_ , the blonde thought, _keep your cool_.

As Mr Scott turned back to the blackboard and the lesson resumed, Brandon turned to Stella and shot her a smile that made her weak in the knees.

"Hey," he greeted quietly. "So you're Solaria?"

"That's me," Stella replied with a nervous chuckle, before realising that she still had gum in her mouth.

 _Damn it_ , she cursed herself. She didn't want to chew on bubblegum when an extremely gorgeous boy was in front of her, but she didn't want to take it out either. She decided that it was best to keep it in her mouth.

"Solaria! You with us?" Mr Scott's heavily sarcastic comment snapped the blonde out of her thoughts.

"Yes, sir," Stella muttered almost inaudibly, her head bowed down. It wasn't her first time being called out by a teacher, but when it happened, it absolutely humiliated her.

"Good. Because if you were listening, then you would have heard that I assigned you all a project that requires a partner," Mr Scott continued on. "Now before you get excited, I will choose your partner for you, and your partner will be the person next to you."

A few guys and girls cheered at their choice of partner, and a few others groaned, while Stella turned to see the only person that would be her own.

Brandon.

The blonde felt a wave of relief (and gratefulness) wash over her. She was thankful Mr Scott had a little mercy that day, and didn't choose a snobby girl who'd leave all the work to herself, like he did the last time.

Brandon shot the blonde a smile and said, "So we're partnered up, huh?"

"I guess so," Stella shrugged. "Maybe we can discuss it at my house later?"

"Perfect," he nodded in agreement. "2 in the afternoon?"

"Yup," Stella confirmed, peeling off a sticky note from her notebook and grabbing a pen, writing down details. She handed it to Brandon and continued on, "Here's my address, and there's also my number. Text me if there's anything."

As if on cue, the bell rang, indicating that the period was over. Mr Scott's words almost flew past her blonde head as she heaved out a sigh, grabbed her things and headed out of class towards her locker.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Stella and her friends gawked over boys during lunch, and a few guys were caught staring at Musa and Flora. The former did anything but act modest about it, but the latter had graciously turned them down.

Before Stella knew it, school was over, and she was at her locker putting away her books when a familiar voice called out her name.

"Stella!" the voice shouted, and the girl groaned inwardly. Putting on the most genuine smile she could muster, Stella slammed her locker door shut to face the culprit.

"Tyler," Stella said, without enthusiasm.

"Hey," Tyler greeted, flashing Stella a grin that would usually make her weak in the knees, but today, she couldn't care less. His blonde hair was styled up in his usual quiff, and there was the trademark sly and seductive glint in his blue eyes. "What period did you have just now?"

"Double English," the girl shrugged. "You?"

"Oh," Tyler raised his eyebrows. "I had Science."

"Sucks, then. Mr Scott was in an especially bad mood today," Stella sent him an almost mocking sympathetic look.

"Isn't he always?" a deep chuckle rumbled from Tyler's chest, and Stella shot him a smile before turning back to her locker.

"Wait, uh, Stella," Tyler laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Hm?"

"You uh... wanna hang later?" the blonde suggested, slowly raising an eyebrow in question.

That was it. That was the question she had expected.

Stella let out a sigh. The last time the both of them had hooked up was about a week ago, and she had enjoyed it. The blonde desperately needed a distraction after what had happened the night before, but she knew Tyler might get the wrong idea for hooking up twice in less than two weeks.

"Sorry, Tyler, can't," Stella said finally. "I've got a project to do with this guy."

Tyler shrugged, but Stella could detect the disappointment and a small hint of jealousy in his voice when he said, "It's fine." He turned on his heel before walking off.

Stella sighed again and rolled her eyes. She was sick of the jealous guys she had to deal with just after hooking up with them. They'd agreed for it to be casual - it's not like she was dating any of them.

After opening her locker and putting the rest of her books in there, Stella slammed the door shut and headed towards the exit.

-:-

Stella just turned off the television and headed to the kitchen for a drink when the doorbell rang.

"Hey," Brandon said, one hand slinging his bag off his shoulder and another hand in his pocket, raising his eyebrows in greeting when Stella opened the door. But the brunet's eyes immediately turned wide and he looked away when he saw what she was wearing. He nervously continued on, "Oh. Am I interrupting something?"

Stella looked down to see what she was clad in - a pink robe. "Oh, I am so sorry, I forgot you were coming over and I got comfortable," the blonde said apologetically, suddenly hiding behind the door.

 _God, I'm a fucking idiot_ , the girl thought, now remembering her hair was also in a messy bun. No, she definitely wasn't a flattering sight right then.

"Come in and make yourself comfortable, while I go get changed," Stella gestured to the living room, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks.

As soon as Brandon came in, Stella immediately slammed the door shut and rushed up the stairs. To think that she had embarrassed herself in front of this gorgeous boy was humiliating.

She quickly picked out an outfit - a dark blue, long sleeved crop top and knee length denim shorts, and she let her curls loose. Much better, she nodded to herself in approval as she looked at her reflection in her vanity. Grabbing her school bag, she headed down the stairs.

"Sorry about that," the blonde apologised, finding Brandon sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room. "I was about to get myself some OJ, you want some?"

"That'd be great," Brandon agreed. He immediately took a gulp when Stella handed him a glass.

"So," Stella sent him a smile and raised an eyebrow. "Let's get started."

-:-

 _Heyyy everybody! I know I said I'd be posting a next gen Winx story, but this story took shape in my mind and I thought it was much better than the overused next gen fic. I also didn't work much on how the other story's direction would go, so when I do, I might post it in the future._

 _Now, here's something you don't see very often: Stella being the popular girl, and Brandon being the shy guy. This is no hate to the Brandon being the bad boy fics, in fact, I love them, it's just that I was getting a **little** tired of them. Again, no hate! Also, English is not my first language (though most times I feel like it), and I haven't written in a long time, so if you felt like the writing was a little choppy, I apologise!_

 _Lastly, since I'm new to FF, I'm not really certain on what I should rate this story. I'm thinking T, but there will be some scenes in the future that might include M rated things. I might really need help with this, so please slide in my inbox if you want to help!_

 _Please R &R, and thank you for reading :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Responses to reviews:_

 _SeaEmerald: Thank you so much! I love your stories and I hope you keep reading!_

 _lifeasmarah: Thank you loads :)_

 _Aleynaa: Thank goodness, I haven't written in so long that I worried that it was bad!_

 _ekatykat8: I'm glad to hear it, I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

 _Guest: Thank you, and I will! I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

-:-

"Oh, that was exhausting," Stella sighed, slumping against the comfortable cushions on the sofa of her living room. She and Brandon had spent the last hour working on their Science project, Stella had tied her hair into a ponytail along the way, and brought out a few snacks and drinks for them to eat.

Brandon chuckled. "Yep," he replied, reaching for his glass of orange juice, before realising it was empty.

"Oh, do you want some more, Brandon?" Stella offered, sitting up quickly.

"Nah, it's fine," the brunet shook his head slightly. "Actually, Solaria, where's the bathroom? All this drinking has filled up my bladder."

"It's the first door down the hall, to the right," Stella instructed, turning away to hide her blush from his nickname. Halfway through their project, Stella had realised she never told Brandon her name. She couldn't complain about him calling him her last name though - when he did, she felt a tingle go down her spine.

Stella's phone tinkled on the coffee table, snapping her from her thoughts. It was a text from her mother.

 _I know you've left me on read the whole day, but I just wanted to let you know I'll be home soon_.

Stella rolled her eyes. She loved her mother with all her heart, but she wasn't in the mood to talk with her right then. Stella knew her mother had apologised for the night before, but the incident had brought back a lot of painful memories.

"Solaria?" a voice from behind called, and that was when Stella remembered she had company.

"Hm?" the blonde responded.

"Are you okay? You seemed lost in thought," Brandon asked in concern, heaving into the chair he had sat in before.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," Stella said, half-truthfully. Her heart warmed at his concern - he barely knew her, but he was so thoughtful and caring.

"I understand," Brandon nodded sympathetically. "Science can tire you out sometimes."

"Sometimes? Try all the time," Stella joked.

Brandon chuckled lightly, and the sound of the front door opening cut him off.

"Baby, I'm home!" Luna's muffled cry sounding through the house.

"Great," Stella muttered under her breath, but Brandon caught it and shot her a questioning look.

"Hey darling," Luna greeted cheerfully as she stepped into the living room. She kissed Stella on the head and patted her shoulder. "Did you get my text? I-"

Luna stopped in her tracks when she noticed the stranger sitting next to her daughter. She eyed the open books and snacks scatted on the coffee table. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

Brandon got to his feet, sending Luna a polite smile. "Hello, Mrs Solaria. I'm Brandon. Stella and I were assigned a project, so she suggested to do it here," he explained. "I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," Luna grinned warmly. "Well, I'll be upstairs if you need anything. Bye, baby." she patted Stella's shoulder again.

As Luna left the room, Brandon gave Stella that grin that made her weak in the knees. "Your mother seems nice."

"Yeah," Stella smiled grimly, but she was distracted. Something he said didn't seem quite right...

"Wait a minute, did I tell you my name?" Stella asked in astonishment.

Brandon burst out laughing. "Took you long enough to realise," he struggled to say between his laughs.

"How'd you know?" Stella smiled, joining him in his amusement.

"I heard someone calling you that after class," Brandon finally said after he calmed down.

Stella's jaw dropped. "Were you spying on me?" she scolded, playfully punching him with a cushion.

"Maybe," Brandon replied in a sing-song voice, his grin still prominent. "It was that guy Tyler. I was walking down that hallway at that moment and when he called your name, it was hard to miss."

"Oh." Stella replied monotonously, her smile disappearing from her face.

"Who is he? Is he... your boyfriend?" Brandon asked a little reluctantly, noticing Stella's change of behaviour.

"No," Stella hugged herself, looking away for a split second before looking at him in the eyes again. "I know what you're thinking... you're probably judging me right now."

"Why would I?" Brandon asked, his eyebrows stitching together in confusion. Stella couldn't tell if it was genuine or not.

"Because... you might think I'm a slut?" Stella shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, though she was starting to doubt that Brandon thought so.

"Absolutely not," Brandon shook his head, his eyes full of surprise. "If you're into casual hook-ups, that's your thing. Besides, I don't see anyone judging guys for wanting casual hook-ups. So why would I judge you for that?"

A smile crept onto Stella's face. He truly is a gentleman, she thought, her heart warming up to him. "I'm sorry... it's just I hear what other people say about me. Slut, whore, a walking STD, you name it. It's absolutely sickening," the blonde heaved a sigh. The truth was, she only hooked up with a guy every two weeks, now and then, for the past few months. Then she added as an afterthought, "I'm sorry I assumed you would think that too."

"No, don't apologise," Brandon returned her smile. "I don't blame you for it. Though I do blame the people who called you those terrible things."

Stella stared into Brandon's understanding, warm brown eyes and sighed. If I were ever able to call him mine, he'll be a keeper, the blonde thought, unaware of the huge grin that had crept onto her face.

Suddenly, Brandon clapped his hands. "Well, shall we continue?" the brunet questioned.

Stella snapped out of her trance, suddenly realising how forward she had been with him. The blonde flushed at the thought. "Uh, I think I'll need help on this part," she almsot stuttered out.

With a nod of his head, Brandon started explaining carefully on the mentioned topic. Stella tried immensely to focus on his words, but it was difficult to when she saw how soft his lips looked. So irresistible, and so kissable -

"Do you get it now?" Brandon cut her off from her thoughts before they got any more inappropriate.

"Y-yeah," Stella nodded a little unsurely. "Thank you."

"No problem," Brandon grinned, before checking his wristwatch. "Whoa, it's already half past three."

"Do you have to head back?" Stella asked him.

"It looks like I have to," Brandon sent the blonde an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Solaria. I guess we'll continue some other time?"

"Okay," Stella agreed. "I don't have your number, though."

Brandon tore out a small piece of paper from his notebook, grabbing a pen and scribbled his number down. "Here you go," he handed it out to Stella.

The brunet grabbed his books, stuffed them in his bag, flung it over his shoulder and smiled at the blonde. "Thanks for having me here," he said.

"It's nothing," Stella shook her head, before walking him down the hallway to the front door.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," Brandon waved to the girl as he headed down the driveway and got into his car.

"Bye!" Stella waved to him, watching him slowly drive off. Sighing, she closed the front door when a voice sounded from behind her.

"You have a crush on him."

Stella turned around to face her mother, who had a sly smirk on her face. "What?"

"Brandon. You're totally into him."

"Shut up," Stella retorted, brushing past Luna and into the kitchen.

"I saw the way you were looking at him, honey. And you've never blushed so much in front of someone before," Luna continued, her tone smug. "Oh, come on, you know it's true."

"I'm still mad at you," Stella raised her eyebrows, opening the fridge to take out an apple.

"I know, but I also know you won't stay mad at me for too long," Luna sent her daughter a sad smile.

"Who knows?" Stella shrugged, closing the door of the fridge and taking a bite of her apple.

"If there's anyone who knows, it's me, darling," Luna's rueful smile changed into a smug one.

Stella couldn't deny the truth in her words, but "Sure," was all she let on before she walked past her mother and back into the living room.

-:-

"And when he wished me goodnight, I could have melted in his arms," Bloom sighed, her elbow on the table and her chin on her palm, staring out the window dreamily.

"It sucks that a bitch gets to call him hers, huh?" Stella elbowed the redhead in the ribs, and getting a glare in response.

"Diaspro doesn't deserve him, honey," Flora said sympathetically from beside Stella.

"I bet she's got so many side guys behind his back," Aisha cut in snidely.

"You bet? I've seen her sucking up to some random dude while Sky's back was turned!" Bloom huffed, her tone scornful.

"You'll get him someday, honey," Tecna sent the redhead a smile.

"Don't I wish," Bloom looked down to her food, before pushing it away. "Ugh. Anyway, guys aside, I don't know how you girls can put up with this food."

"You shouldn't have taken the yucky coleslaw," Flora shook her head. "Goodness knows what's in it."

Tecna shrugged. "As long as it's not damaging to my health."

"Sometimes I don't even line up for the food, I just take the drinks," Aisha replied.

Stella eyed a certain dark-haired girl at the corner of the table, who had been quiet the whole time, save for a few one-word answers. The blonde decided to bring her into the conversation.

"You don't seem to like the food either, Musa," Stella said, gesturing to the plate that lay untouched in front of her.

"I've no appetite," she informed the blonde almost inaudibly.

"Are you alright, Musa? You've been so quiet today," Tecna questioned.

"Yeah, and you're never quiet," Aisha turned to the girl beside her.

"Are you feeling sick?" a concerned Flora asked.

"No, no, I'm fine," Musa widened her eyes at the sudden attention.

"Are you sure?" Bloom questioned her gently.

Musa made no attempt to reply. An awkward silence followed, and everyone at the table immediately knew her answer.

Realising how uncomfortable the tension had become, Stella decided to finally say, "Uh, well... you girls want to, hang at my place later? Help me sort my outfits? My mum never helps me with that kind of stuff."

"Of course," Bloom agreed a little too enthusiastically, her attention turning back towards the blonde.

"Sure," Tecna shrugged, but not before sending Musa a puzzled look.

"Absolutely," Flora smiled.

"I don't have anything to do, so yes," Aisha nodded.

"Okay, I guess," Musa mumbled, and the table fell silent again.

Fortunately, a clearing of the throat grabbed the girls' attention, and they all turned to the head of the table to see who it was.

"Hey baby," a dark, long-haired guy grinned at one certain brown-haired girl.

"Hey Helia!" Flora cried in surprise, her mouth stretching into a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to say hi to my honey," Helia's grin widened as he kissed Flora on the cheek, and the brunette's cheeks turned crimson red.

"Get a room!" Aisha scolded jokingly.

"What period do you have after this?" Flora asked him, twirling a strand of her hair like she always did when she was with Helia. "Please tell me it's History."

"Sorry, darling," Helia smiled ruefully, shrugging his broad shoulders. "My first period was History."

"Ah shit," Flora cursed, and the other girls burst out laughing. Even Musa turned to hide a smile. Flora cursing was not something they saw every day.

"It's alright, baby, we share the last period together, remember?" Helia reminded her.

"But algebra is so mind-numbingly boring," Flora sighed.

"I'll keep you entertained," Helia teased her, gently patting Flora on the shoulder.

"Yo Helia! You coming?" A voice suddenly called out.

The girls craned their necks to see who the voice belonged to. Stella's eyebrows shot up when she recognised the guy she had been daydreaming about all day - the one and only, Brandon.

Helia turned to face him and nodded. "Yeah, just wanted to talk to my girlfriend," he said. Then he hesitated. "Actually, I don't think you two have properly met before. Flora, this is Brandon, Brandon, this is Flora."

"Hey there," Brandon flashed her his trademark grin.

"Hello," Flora greeted, politely nodding at him.

"Brandon?" Stella found herself saying.

The brunet turned at the sound of his name and his face filled with surprise. "Solaria. Hey."

Stella took her time to drink up his appearance. His glasses looked as adorable as ever, the fitted T-shirt he wore showed off his muscly biceps, and his hands were shoved deep inside his jean pockets. But the thing that grabbed Stella's attention was his eyes, the way they sparkled a beautiful shade of brown unlike Stella had ever seen before.

"You two know each other?" Flora's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Stella was caught off guard and couldn't speak for a moment.

"We were partnered up on a project for Science," Brandon finally said when he realised Stella wasn't going to answer.

"How do you two know each other?" Stella finally spoke up, gesturing to Helia and Brandon.

"We've know each since forever, basically," Brandon grinned.

Helia smiled and glanced at his watch. "Well, we gotta go. I promised the guys to do something before lunch ended," he kissed Flora on the forehead. "See you later, baby."

Brandon shot Stella a smile and waved to her as the girls at the table watched the two guys walk away.

"Okay, don't just sit there, spill," Bloom nudged Stella in the ribs when they were out of earshot.

"Ow!" Stella glared, rubbing the spot where the redhead had hit. "Spill about what?"

"That guy Brandon," Flora grinned. "You were totally ogling him."

"I was not!" Stella turned away to hide a blush.

"Was too," Aisha covered her mouth as she chuckled. "Now come on."

Stella looked at her group of friends before sighing heavily. "Okay, fine. I'm totally into him."

"I knew it!" Bloom gasped and started giggling. "I get it. I mean, with a body like tha-ow!" Stella cut her off by hitting her in the arm.

"Girl code, honey," Stella reminded her, glaring at her friend. "He's mine."

"You have to be so violent?" Bloom grumbled, cradling her arm.

"So, are you going to ask him out?" Tecna asked Stella, and everyone turned to hear her answer.

"Maybe," the blonde smiled slyly.

-:-

"So, he didn't call you a slut, he really is a gentleman, and above that, he's absolutely good looking," Bloom said slowly, her voice raised a little. She sat on the canopy bed, braiding the long brown hair of Flora, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed. "Did I get that right?"

"Yes," Stella's muffled reply came somewhere from her walk-in wardrobe.

"So what's stopping you, girl? Go and get him before someone else does!" Aisha raised her eyebrows, looking up from painting her toenails on the carpeted floor of Stella's bedroom.

"I know, I will," Stella's voice became clearer as she stepped out of the wardrobe, holding out an outfit; a pair of brown leggings and a blue halter top. "But I think it's too early. I only met him yesterday, for fuck's sake. If I asked him out immediately he might actually think I'm a slut."

"That's true," Tecna nodded, her eyes never leaving the screen of the laptop in front of her. The girl sat on a bean bag adjacent to Stella's vanity.

"Honey, find new pants, those don't go," Flora shook her head, causing Bloom to huff.

"Don't move, I'm almost done," the redhead told Flora. She looked up to see Stella's outfit. "But yeah, Flora's right. Those don't go."

Stella disappeared into the wardrobe before appearing again a moment later with a black skirt, studded with gems, and fishnet stockings. "How about this?" she asked.

Flora gasped. "Okay, that outfit's mine!"

"Mm, you should wear that to my party," Musa finally spoke up, sitting up on Stella's bed and setting down her phone on the pillow she was lying next to.

"Look who finally has a voice," Aisha said under her breath, but no one heard her.

"What party?" Stella questioned, surprised that the dark haired girl finally said something after ten long minutes of silence. She handed the outfit out to Flora.

"The party this weekend that I'm hosting," Musa replied matter-of-factly.

"You said nothing about a party, honey," Flora turned around to face her, finally able to move as Bloom had just finished braiding her hair.

"Well, I'm hosting a party this weekend. You're all invited. Now you know," Musa responded shortly.

"Hey Muse, are you okay? You were so quiet just now," Tecna asked, closing her laptop and putting it on the floor to finally look at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Musa waved her hand lazily. "So, what do you say, girls?"

"What do I say? I say you're silly! I'm out here sorting clothes to wear daily and all the while I could have picked out outfits for us to rock at the party!" Stella rolled her golden brown eyes, her hands landing on her hips.

"Sorry," Musa smiled sheepishly. _That's the first smile I see from her today_ , thought Aisha.

Bloom smiled and clapped her hands. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's ransack Stella's wardrobe!"

-:-

 _Hey there! Here with a new chapter! I know this is kind of a filler, but I promise you that you will get more Brandon and Stella moments in the next chapter. I'm happy with the length because I originally intended to write around 2,000-2,500 words, and this is 2920 words. I hope you enjoyed it, and please R &R!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Responses to reviews:**

ekatykat8: You will find out soon, and thank you!

Camilla Davis: *squeals in 928328747 languages* You have no idea how happy I was when I saw you reviewed! I love your work so much, thank you a million for reading and I hope you continue to! :)

lifeasmarah: Thank you, I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Guest, lilo: Haha love you both, hope you continue reading ;)

* * *

Stella blinked at her reflection in the mirror, looking at her simply-done makeup and her perfectly curled blonde hair, countless thoughts running through her mind.

"Stella babe, please stop admiring yourself in the mirror, we're already late for the party," Bloom's sudden voice brought her back to the world. The blonde turned to face her best friend, who was clad in a black tank top, flowy skirt and black leggings that disappeared into knee-length leather boots.

Stella smiled. "Honey, you look amazing," she complimented.

"Me? Amazing? When you're wearing that?" Bloom's tone was incredulous, but a smile tugged at her lips.

Stella looked down to see her outfit - a maroon, long-sleeved dress with a small opening at the back, showing off a part of her smooth, fair skin. Her choice of footwear was peep-toe strap-on wedges. It was pretty amazing, she had to agree.

"Oh, you're adorable," Stella said, reaching for her earrings on the table in front of her. Then she heaved a sighed. "Thank you for letting me get ready here. Are you sure your mum wouldn't mind?"

"Mum and Dad won't be back for ages," Bloom waved her hand nonchalantly, unplugging her phone that was charging on her nightstand.

"And the others?" Stella raised an eyebrow, referring to her step siblings.

"Who the hell knows," Bloom shrugged, putting her phone in her gem-studded purse. "By the way, do you think Brandon will be at the party?"

The mention of the brunet's name made Stella blush the colour of a beetroot. She and Brandon had finished the rest of their project and handed it in earlier in the week. They had decided to do it in a coffee shop, where Brandon treated Stella her favourite latte and then late drove her home. That was all Stella had talked about for the rest of the week, leaving the girls bored to tears but happy for their friend.

"I hope so, but I don't know. He's too intelligent to go to a party with a bunch of drunk teenagers and stupid games like beer pong," Stella responded, standing up and heading over to Bloom's bed to grab her glittery red sling bag.

"Why are we going again?" Bloom asked rhetorically, sitting down in front of her vanity and put on her black earrings.

"Because Musa's hosting a party out of nowhere suddenly," Stella sat down on the bed and checked in her purse to see if all her things were there.

Bloom sighed and turned to face the blonde. "She's been acting all weird lately. I need to find out what's wrong with her."

"We have to find out tonight. We can ask the other girls too."

Bloom rolled her dark blue eyes almost jokingly, turning back to her vanity. "You sure about that? Because I think Flora will be too busy sucking off Helia's face the whole night."

"Well, it's for Musa. And Flora's the most caring one out of all of us, if she doesn't care, none of us do," Stella reminded her, though she knew Bloom already knew that. She stood up and walked towards the door of the bedroom. "You coming?"

"Yeah," Bloom nodded, taking her purse but taking her time to walk towards her friend.

"Come on, can you walk any slower?" Stella said sarcastically. "Bloom, we're late!"

Bloom grinned. "Are you kidding? If we're going to be late, we might as well be fashionably late."

* * *

The booming music could be heard from outside the house as Stella and Bloom pulled up to Musa's house. Teenagers scattered around the lawn, and they both could recognise most of them from their school.

Stella stepped out of Bloom's car, clutching her purse near herself even though it was slung over her shoulder. A smile tugged at her lips when all pairs of eyes fell on her. She knew she looked the best out of all of them that night.

As Stella and Bloom walked into Musa's already crowded house, there were a few catcalls and a few girls waved at the two of them. Stella put on her best smile and waved back, loving the attention that she was receiving.

Suddenly, she felt someine tugging at her arm. The blonde turned to see Aisha, whose hands were wrapped around her own's, and Tecna right behind her.

"There you are," Tecna scolded them jokingly, her voice raised over the loud music. "You know you're an hour late, right?"

"Tecna, we might be late, but at least we're-" Bloom started, but Aisha cut her off.

"Fashionably late. Yes, you're both _notorious_ for that!" the dark haired girl responded, rolling her eyes.

Stella pointed at Bloom. "She was taking her own sweet time!"

"You were the one who didn't complain, blondie," the redhead retorted, but the music drowned her words.

"I can't fucking hear you over this music. Let's go somewhere more private!" Aisha stitched her brows together and shook her head. She and Tecna led the two of them down two turns and into a hallway, where the thick walls muffled the sound music and chatter.

"That's better," Tecna heaved a breath that she was holding.

"Where's Musa and Flora?" Stella looked around, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Flora disappeared with her boy toy, and Musa's probably entertaining some freshmen," Aisha replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Talking about Musa, have you been able to find out what's up with her?" Stella raised an eyebrow in question.

Tecna shook her head. "While the three of us were setting up, she seemed guarded, you know, like how she's been for the past week. She did seem kind of excited for something, though."

"And no, we don't know what," Aisha pursed her lips grimly.

"But do you have any idea?" Bloom asked, her voice full of concern. "What do you think, Tec? You're the closest to her out of all of us."

Tecna gave the girls a sad smile. "My only guess is... I guess, the party?" she hesitated for a bit. "She might be having family troubles too. She just won't tell us."

"That's possible," Bloom agreed.

"Well, whatever it is, we have to be there for her, even if she doesn't want to tell us what it is," Stella sighed heavily, and the others nodded in agreement. Then she looked up and clapped her hands, a smile appearing on her face again. "Meanwhile, why don't we enjoy ourselves at this party? We didn't dress up our best for nothing!"

The girls immediately cheered up, and headed back to Musa's living room, filled with sweaty, dancing bodies. Aisha pulled Tecna onto the dancefloor, Bloom got into a conversation with some freshmen, and Stella made a beeline for the table with food and drinks, feeling her stomach grumble and regretting her decision of refusing her mother's offer of cooking her dinner.

The blonde eyed the table, filled with arrays of snacks and drinks, and she almost cringed at how unhealthy they all were. A pinkish liquid served in a big bowl at the end of the table caught Stella's eye. Feeling relieved, she took a step towards the punch, knowing it was probably the healthiest thing there. She picked up a glass and started pouring it in.

"You do know that punch will be spiked by now, right?"

Stella stopped pouring and set her glass down, turning to see the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

The dim light shone down on Brandon's amused grin as he was clad in a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket, his hands shoved deep inside his pockets. Strangely enough, the glasses that usually sat perched on his nose was absent, and now Stella could clearly see his brown eyes sparkle brighter than they ever did before.

"Holy crap," the blonde's jaw dropped, countless inappropriate thoughts running through her mind, not realising the fact that she just said that out loud.

"Pardon?" Brandon's eyebrows shot up in confusion.

It took a moment before Stella shook her head. Idiot, she mentally cursed herself.

"I mean, holy crap, I'm so stupid to forget something like that," Stella lied easily, a grin settling on her face.

"Oh, that's alright," Brandon smirked, and Stella's eyes widened. Fuck, he's so hot, the blonde bit her lip.

"Well, I'm an idiot for refusing dinner from my mum," Stella sighed. "I'm practically starving."

"You wanna go out then?" Brandon shot her a questioning look.

For a moment, Stella stood dumbfounded. "What?"

"Go out? I can treat you your dinner," Brandon offered, raising his voice a little, thinking Stella did not hear him over the loud music.

"Oh, right!" the blonde flushed. Clearly her imagination had went a little too far.

For a moment, the blonde considered his offer. It would be a dream come true to have Brandon treat her something, but she did make a promise to her friends.

"Sure, that'll be nice," Stella said after a moment of thinking. I could just come back here after dinner, she thought.

"Great," with a grin, Brandon led Stella through the crowd of dancing bodies, out of the house and towards the front of the gate where he had parked his car.

As soon as they both got in, Brandon shot her a smile and asked, "Do you have any place in mind?"

"I have no idea. Do you?" Stella's blonde curls bounced as she shook her head. She reached for the seatbelt on her side.

Brandon's smile turned shy. "Well, actually, I haven't had much dinner, either," he told her. "Would you mind if we went to my favourite hot dog place?"

Stella was horrified, immediately letting go of her seatbelt and it slammed against the door. "Hot dogs?"

The brunette frowned slightly. "Unless you want to go somewhere else?"

"I'm sorry, I just," Stella shook her head as if clearing her mind. She looked down before looking back into his eyes, an embarrassed smile playing on her lips. "I haven't had carbs since like, a century ago."

Brandon's contagious smile returned again. "What about you break your streak tonight?"

Stella shook her head again. "Brandon, I'm not going to eat at a hot dog place."

"Just this once, _please_? For me?" he pleaded, unintentionally making Stella's heart melt at the sight of his chocolate brown orbs.

Biting her lip, the blonde sighed. "Fine," she gave in. Who in the world could resist those beautiful eyes?

With a ' _whoop!_ ' and a bump of his fist, Brandon revved up the engine and drove off.

* * *

Stella's golden eyes widened as Brandon led her into the cheap, fast food restaurant that was apparently his favourite, tucked away in the corner of a quiet street.

"I feel like I'm already gaining weight just by sniffing the air," Stella informed the brunet next to her.

Brandon's loud laugh echoed through the almost deserted place, making the blonde's heart swell. "A little bit of carbs won't harm you."

As soon as they were both seated in a booth facing each other, a smile found its way onto Stella's face and she clapped her hands. "Well, what kind of hot dog would you recommend me?"

Brandon's eyes lightened up. "My favourite, of course. It's topped with salad, pickles, onions, cheese and mustard. That's what I always order."

"Tempting," Stella grinned, putting her chin in the palm of her hand, observing every move of the guy in front of her. She felt her heart flutter at the sight of Brandon talking about something he liked, and the way his eyes sparkled as he did.

"I'll go get them then," he shot Stella a wink before disappearing to the counter.

Oh boy, Stella sighed inwardly, am I really risking eating carbs for this boy?

Of course you are, the answer came to her immediately. He's not a boy, he's a gentleman. And Stella couldn't deny the way she felt when she looked at him.

The blonde didn't realise how long she was staring at him until Brandon came back with two hot dogs and drinks on a tray, a grin etched on his face.

"Wow, that hungry, huh?" he let out a low chuckle. "It's fine. I always get hungry when I see any hot dog from this place."

A massive smile crept onto Stella's face. God, he's so modest he doesn't know I'm ogling him because of his humble beauty, the blonde almost sighed dreamily. Then when her eyes settled on the food in front of her and her stomach grumbled, she realised that Brandon wasn't the only thing she was hungry for.

"That looks so amazingly... delicious," Stella's golden brown eyes widened.

"Why don't you give it a try?" Brandon grinned, pushing one hot dog in front her and taking his own.

Hesitantly, Stella brought the hot dog to her open mouth and took a small bite. As she slowly chewed and swallowed, her hazel closed in enjoyment at the taste.

When Stella opened her eyes again, she found Brandon smirking from across her.

"Well?" the brunet anticipated.

After a moment, Stella finally admitted, "That's the best food I've had in a while."

Brandon's unexpected laugh sent chills down Stella's almost bare back. "I'm glad you like it," he said, before taking a bite of his own hot dog.

"How'd you find this place?" Stella raised an eyebrow, continuing to eat.

"Helia recommended it to me. After that, I was obsessed," Brandon told her.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, enjoying each other's company as they ate their food. Unbeknownst to them, they both stole glances at each other every few seconds, admiring each other's beauty.

She was halfway done with her hot dog when Stella realised that Brandon was staring directly at her mouth.

"I'm sorry, is there something on my face?" Stella raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows in confusion, pushing all vain thoughts out of her mind.

"Well, you have a little bit of mustard on your lip there..." Brandon said quietly, his hand reaching out and wiping off the sauce at the corner of Stella's lip with his thumb.

Dumbfounded, the blonde tried to ignore the electric sensation that ran through her veins at his touch. "Oh, my bad. I haven't eaten something this sloppy in so long."

Brandon smiled at her response, and instead of melting at the sight of it like she usually would, a thought suddenly appeared in her head.

Stella cleared her throat. "So, what brought you to the party just then?"

"What do you mean?"

The blonde smiled sheepishly. "I don't mean this in an offensive way, but you don't look like the type of person who would go to a house party like that."

A knowing smile was on Brandon's face. "No, I understand," he shrugged. "Helia actually invited me, but he ditched me the minute we got in, and God knows where he went."

A giggle left Stella's lips. "Probably went off to go snogging with Flora." she took a pause before asking, "Hey, don't you usually wear glasses? Where'd they go?"

"I actually only wear reading glasses, but sometimes I get so used to them I don't bother to take them off," Brandon informed her with a smile.

"So you don't need to wear them twenty four hours a day?" Stella quizzed, wiping off sauce that almost dripped down from her hot dog.

The brunet shook his head. "I don't mind wearing them, but nope."

Pity, Stella thought. He looks so adorable with them. But she didn't mind this extremely hot Brandon without glasses either.

The two of them exchanged small smiles before devouring their hot dogs again.

* * *

"Do you know where Stella went?" Bloom questioned her friends, a drink in her hand. The three of them sat in the corner of the room, away from the crowd where they could hear each other better.

Tecna shrugged in response, her eyes glued to the screen of her phone.

"Don't tell me she ditched us," the redhead frowned in despair, and turned to the brunette next to her.

Aisha was more helpful. "I think I saw her leave with a guy," she pursed her lips. "Honestly, after that Brandon guy, I didn't think she could look at any other guy."

Tecna scowled, looking up at her two friends. "With Flora making out with her boyfriend, and Stella going off to shag some random dude, how are we ever going to do this?"

"Hey, Stella must have a good explanation," Bloom said sharply, shooting Tecna a warning glare. "You know she would never leave us alone for some stupid guy."

"Okay, sorry," Tecna threw Bloom a sheepish glance. "But Musa has ignored us this whole time. How are we ever going to find out?"

"Maybe she just doesn't want us to find out, okay? Maybe she just needs her space," Aisha snapped. "You two have got to realise that we shouldn't be prying our noses into Musa's personal business. Maybe that's why Stella and Flora left."

Bloom couldn't disagree with Aisha's point. "Okay, you're right," the redhead nodded slowly.

Tecna shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine," she replied monotonously, her eyes scanning the dancing crowd. "Hey, look who finally decided to leave her boyfriend alone."

The two other girls turned to see Flora threading her way through the crowd and towards them, a massive grin on her face.

"Hey," Flora greeted them as soon as the were within earshot. She turned to Bloom. "How long have you been here?"

"About twenty minutes."

Flora's eyebrows raised in surprise. "That long already? How long was I gone for?" she scanned her friends for a moment before asking, "Hey, where's Stella?"

With a heavy sigh, Aisha rolled her eyes and whipped out her phone from her pocket.

Bloom chuckled at the brunette's behaviour. "Apparently, Tecna saw her leave with some guy," she told Flora.

"But isn't she head over heels over that guy Brandon?" Flora tilted her head in confusion. "Are you sure, Tecna?"

But Tecna wasn't able to say anything. Her jaw was wide open in shock as she stared at the sight on the other side of the dancefloor.

The other girls craned their necks to see what Tecna was gaping at. There, at the far corner of the room, was Musa wrapped in the arms of a man, whose face was hidden in the shadows. Flora narrowed her eyes as she saw the two shadows slowly closing their eyes and leaning in for a kiss, like the world around them seemed to disappear and it was only the two of them.

As the lights shifted, the girls all gasped when they finally saw his unmistakable features under the dim lighting - spiky magenta hair, piercing violet eyes, and his trademark smirk.

The school's most notorious bad boy, and Musa's number one enemy.

Riven Steele.

* * *

A small giggle left Stella's lips as she and Brandon walked out of the fast food restaurant. "Oh my God, that's hilarious," she struggled to say between her laughter.

The brunet beside her grinned widely, his hands shoved in the pockets of his leather jacket. "And in the end, I didn't even end up getting my cheeseburger."

Stella opened her mouth to reply when a gush of cold wind sent a small chill down her spine. She shivered as she realised her bare back and the thin material of her dress didn't give her the warmth she needed.

Brandon immediately stopped in his tracks. "Are you okay?" he questioned, concern written all over his face.

Stella hugged her sides in a futile attempt to ward off the cold. "It's just, really chilly out here," she tried to brush it off.

Before the blonde realised it, Brandon had already shrugged off his leather jacket. "Here you go," he offered her, gently putting the jacket around her shoulders.

Stella raised her eyebrows in surprise, and sent Brandon an appreciative smile. The blonde held the jacket closer and tighter, feeling the warmth she needed spread throughout her body.

Stella released a deep breath she didn't know she held, glad to be relieved of the cold. When she looked up, the blonde almost gasped when she came face to face with Brandon, her eyes widening when she realised how dangerously close his face was to hers.

When a light smile appeared on his lips, Stella gulped and tried to ignore the feeling of her heartbeat in her ears.

"Better?" Brandon said, his warm breath tickling her cheek.

For a moment, the blonde was tongue-tied. "Y-yes," she breathed.

"I'm glad," a low chuckle left Brandon's lips. "Wouldn't want you to freeze out here."

Most mercifully, Stella's phone chirped from her purse, interrupting the blonde from her wandering thoughts. She hurriedly fished out her phone to see who had texted her.

An immediate frown replaced her flustered cheeks. "It's Bloom. Something's happened with Musa," she said, throwing Brandon a worried glance. "I have to get there now."

"Of course," Brandon nodded understandingly, and then leading her to where he had had parked his car. "I'll drive."

"Thank you," she told him, smiling gratefully.

* * *

Aisha was the first to recover from her shock. " _What_ is she doing?"

" _WHY_ is she doing..." Flora was agape. "...him?"

"Stella _better_ be here soon," Bloom said, furiously typing away texts on her phone. "And Musa _better_ have a good explanation."

Tecna didn't wait a moment before grabbing Flora by the arm. "Why the hell are we still standing there? Let's go and find out what's happening!"

Aisha rolled her beautiful brown eyes as Tecna quickly sprinted through the dancefloor, dragging Flora behind her. "Can't they give the poor girl her privacy?" she muttered under her breath, leaning back against the wall.

"Wait up!" Bloom yelled, shoving her phone down her pocket and following suit. The redhead almost tripped on her heels when she had finally caught up to the other two.

It was even more unusual to see up close; Musa and Riven kissing each other, touching each other like they had been doing it all of their life.

Tecna, who was closest to the two, opened her mouth to speak when a man stormed up to the kissing couple, grabbed Riven from behind and aimed a deft punch to his face. Riven staggered back and lost his balance, falling onto the floor in a heap.

"You _slut_!" the man turned to Musa, whose dark eyes were suddenly wide and glossy. "So _this_ is who you've been doing behind my back?!"

The room immediately fell silent. Heads turned to see the commotion that was happening. Musa stared, jaw wide open, unable to speak.

"Hey!" Flora spoke up angrily. "Who the fuck are you?"

The man ignored the brunette, shooting deathly glares at the tongue-tied Musa before turning to leave.

"Hold up!" Aisha, who finally caught up with the others, stopped him from going any further by standing in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Get out of my way," the man seethed, clenching his fists that lay by his sides.

Aisha ignored his command. "Now who the hell do you think you are, punching some random guy and speaking to my friend like that?"

"If you must know, I'm her fucking _boyfriend_ ," he spat out furiously, before shoving the crowd of onlookers out of his way and storming out of the party.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note** : Hello there! This author's note will be a little longer as I have to apologise for being this late. I honestly struggled a bit with this chapter as I had ideas, but I just didn't know how to execute them. I think you can really see that my writing is short and choppy here, but since it was taking so long for me to finish this I just couldn't edit anything anymore. I think I'll edit this chapter in the future, but for now here you go. Funny thing is, even though I'm not happy with this chapter, it did surpass my word count goal by a lot of words._

 _I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and please R &R!_


	4. Chapter 4

Musa woke up with a pounding headache. The bright light that shone through her curtains blinded her for a split second, and she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. With a groan, she clutched at her head, suddenly remembering the eventful night before, before she blacked out. She slowly pushed herself up with her elbows.

And that was when she realised she was not alone.

Aisha and Tecna stood at the edge her bed, with the latter looking confused and the former shooting her a glare.

"Well, Sleeping Beauty, how was your hundred-year nap?" Aisha commented almost mockingly in a sweet, sing-song voice.

"Ugh, can we not do this now," Musa begged half-heartedly, falling back into the comfort of her pillows.

"No, we _are_ doing this now," Aisha snapped unmercifully, crossing her arms to show that she was being serious. "What the _HELL_ was that whole fiasco last night?"

Musa winced at Aisha's change of volume. "Will you stop being so goddamn loud?"

Tecna shot Aisha a glowering glance, then turned back to Musa, "If you tell us now, we'll stop bothering you."

"Can't a girl bear a hangover in peace and quiet?" Musa grumbled, further burying herself in the mountain of pillows, the bed creaking slightly in the process. "At _least_ let me have a shower first."

"Okay, that's fair," Tecna agreed, nodding in reply. She glanced at the girl beside her, a meaningful look on her face. "Aisha?"

Aisha closed her eyes for a lingering moment before sighing heavily. "Fine. But after your shower, we're going to have a _long_ talk about how you were practically sucking Riven Steele's face off."

" _Aisha_ ," Tecna nagged.

"Whatever," the brunette rolled her deep blue eyes. "And _please_ clean yourself up. You look like a _mess_." With that, the two left Musa in the privacy of her bedroom.

Musa turned to see her reflection in the vanity and almost gasped at what she saw.

Aisha was right. She _WAS_ a mess. Musa's usually smooth, dark hair stuck up in multiple different directions and her bloodshot eyes bore heavy bags. But the worst part was that her makeup from the night before was still on her face, the colours smudging together in an ugly shade of brown, unflattering her fair skin.

"Ugh," Musa shuddered, before groggily heaving herself up and slowly shuffling into the bathroom.

-:-

"You're all here too?" Musa commented unenthusiastically, her last few steps down her staircase becoming gradually slower when she saw Flora, Stella and Bloom sitting in her living room along with Tecna and Aisha.

"Are you kidding?" Bloom raised her eyebrows sarcastically, comfortably leaning back against the leather sofa she was sitting on.

Flora furtively nudged Bloom in the ribs, earning a glare in return. She continued in a much nicer tone, "Of course, we're worried about you."

There was a chorus of "yeah"s as all the girls agreed simultaneously.

"Come and sit here," Flora slowly patted the free space next to her, scooching over to make more room.

Instead, Musa steadily ignored the brunette, slumping herself in an unoccupied, single armchair and burying her face in her hands.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" Tecna quizzed from the sofa adjacent to hers.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" Musa snapped impatiently, looking up from her hands.

"You don't have to use that tone on us, Musa," Stella said sternly, her expression of concern immediately turning into one of annoyance.

"Weren't you out fucking some guy last night?" the dark-haired girl spat in irritation, turning to face the blonde.

" _No_ , I wasn't," Stella replied just as coldly, her gaze becoming intense. "You would have known that if you would just listen to us. Now stop snapping at every one of us and get to the point." There was a pause and her tone and her features softened. "We're your friends, Musa. We will **always** be here for you."

The room fell quiet and a pang of guilt hit Musa like a wrecking ball to a wall. Stella was right. How could she be this cold to the only people in the world who could understand her better than she understood herself?

Her brow furrowed and she lowered her head in shame. A heavy sigh left her lips as she ran a hand through her long, bluish black hair that was let loose over her shoulders. "That guy who punched Riven last night... h-his name is Jake."

"Last night he told me he's your boyfriend..." Aisha told her quietly. "Is that true?"

"He _was_ my boyfriend," Musa told them firmly, shaking her head. "Until I broke up with him."

"You dated that _jerk_?" Bloom scowled.

Musa nodded slowly, her mouth drooping in shame. "I met him about two months ago at some party. He was really nice and sweet... a gentleman, you would say. I was absolutely shitfaced so he offered to drive me home. He even did that cheesy 'giving me his jacket because I was cold' move, which I didn't mind, because I was blind drunk at that time... but b-because of th-that, I also didn't realise all the subtle touches he had given me, which were definitely _more_ than just innocent."

How naive she had been. _Never again_ , Musa swore to herself. "I gave him my number... and it all started from there. He asked me out, and I said yes. Like I said, he was so sweet, so I was already practically in love. But then the first red flag came," Musa continued, her eyes full of anguish. "I wanted to tell you guys that we were dating so bad, but he wanted us to be private for a while. He _swore_ me to secrecy."

There was a pause as Musa struggled to get her words out.

"I thought nothing of it at first, but then he started getting protective... no, _possessive_ is what I mean. He would call me every single minute of the day, asking where I was even though I already told him where I would be. He wouldn't let me go to parties, he wouldn't let me wear clothes that were too revealing, or some stupid crap like that. He was so... _jealous_ of everyone I spoke to, and then one day I had had enough. I told him I was done with whatever remained of that relationship, and cut off all my ties with him. And in that same night, I went to my first party in weeks."

The girl stopped talking and showed no sign of continuation. Concerned, Flora perked up, "Are you okay to continue?"

Musa nodded silently, aimlessly waving her hand in the air. "Riven. He was at that party. I was already drunk when he came up to me. He was his usual arrogant, cocky self and told me so many stupid, insulting things. Did he really expect me to take all that without saying anything? Of course not. So I got up, stared him in the eye and told him to fuck off. And... needless to say, one thing led to another and then... and then the next morning I woke up in his bed."

Musa couldn't help but laugh, albeit nervously, when all of her friends' jaws dropped. "Can you believe he was a gentleman the next morning? Well, not _gentleman_. That would be a bit of a stretch," she continued on, amusement threaded through her words. "Let's just say, he was actually nice to me. He apologised for what he said the night before, and we basically started over. I told him about the toxic relationship I just got out of, and he told me about himself."

"And that's when you started to fall for him..." Stella teased with a snicker, a smirk tugging on her lips. "Slowly, then all at once."

Musa rolled her eyes fondly. "Yes, you're right. We started meeting secretly everyday, and not long after, I was head over heels. I wanted to tell him how I felt about him, but the night before I told you guys about the party, that _monster_ turned up at my door at 3 in the morning."

Musa clenched her fists in anger, her eyes ablaze. "It was _UNBELIEVABLE_. He _BEGGED_ me to take him back. He thought that we were only on a break! After all the emotional abuse he put me through, did he honestly think that I still loved him? That I still wanted him in my life?" after finally letting out her emotions that she had pent up for so long, the girl's voice cracked and she burst into a fit of sorrowful sobs. She buried her face in her knees and her sobs rocked her body back and forth.

Aisha began, "Musa-"

Musa looked up and held up a hand at the mention of her name. "No, let me finish, please," she tried to plead through her sobs. After taking a deep breath, she started to continue slowly. "I told him that h-he was crazy, that he should leave me alone and that everything between us was over. The look on h-his face when I said that... i-it was truly _t-terrifying_. When he r-raised his hand, I was c-completely paralysed. Before I knew it, the vase th-that was set next to the doorway was on the floor... a-and I was too, with _blood pouring down my legs_."

" _Bastard_ ," Stella whispered, absolutely outraged. Aisha, Bloom, Flora and Tecna felt the same fury burning through their veins. They could not believe Musa had gone through all of that all by herself.

"My brother had woken up by that time. When he got downstairs, all he saw was me crying on the floor, unable to stand up because of my damn legs, and that son of a bitch standing over me. I don't remember what happened next... but I woke up in a hospital bed with stitches all over my legs and feet. That same morning, I saw all of you being so happy that I didn't dare tell you and burden you with all that had happened to me. So I thought of the only thing that would always make me happy and forget about everything else, and that was throwing parties." the girl sniffled as she wiped away the tears that were on her face. "I invited Riven and told him everything last night. And just like in fairytales, he told me he would never let anything happen to me again, and he liked me too. The last thing I'd expected was for that bastard to show up and ruin everything. And now... we're here."

After listening to Musa without ever interrupting once, Tecna slowly stood up, walked over to Musa and engulfed her in a comforting, light hug.

Caught by surprise, the dark-haired girl gasped when she felt four more bodies crushing her own with all their might. Joyful laughter escaped her lips and she closed her eyes in satisfaction, realising that she hadn't felt this happy in a long time.

"Ugh, I love you bitches so much," said Musa affectionately, feeling the warmth and comfort radiating from her friends' embrace. It was in that moment she knew. No matter what boy would come and go throughout her life, they would never love her like Tecna, Aisha, Stella, Flora and Bloom did.

"And we love you too!" they all replied simultaneously, immediately erupting into a fit of giggles.

After an what felt like forever, the six girls broke away from the hug. Flora sat on the seat of the armchair, her arm around Musa while the others went back to where they were sitting previously.

"I'm really sorry, by the way... for keeping this all from you," Musa breathed, her voice shaky with remorse. She studied the faces of every single girl around her and a rueful smile crept onto her face. "I know better now. You guys will always be here for me, I'll never forget that. But then again, I was scared that you'd judge me for suddenly liking Riven when I had sworn to you that I hated his guts."

Tecna gave a light chuckle before shaking her head firmly. "Please, never, EVER think that you're a burden, ever again."

"Never again," Musa solemnly promised to herself and to her friends, giving them a nod.

"Well, all that crap aside..." Bloom pestered after a moment, amused, "You and Riven, huh?"

Musa felt her face turning crimson and she corssed her arms against her chest. "What about it?"

"You guys are a thing now!" Flora shrieked with delight, pointing to the pinkette sitting across from her. "Tecna, you owe me ten bucks!"

Musa's jaw immediately dropped in amazement. "You bet that Riven and I would end up together?"

"Well, last night after that whole fiasco, while we were cleaning your house, Tecna said that she thought the kiss between you two was a spur-of-the-moment, drunken kiss, but Flora bet Tecna that you and Riven were a full-on couple." Aisha told her.

Musa shook her head, clearly stunned. "I'm not even mad. You guys are... something else."

As Tecna grumbled and involuntarily handed the smug Flora a tenner, Musa's eyebrows stitched together when she realised what Aisha had said.

"Wait a minute, you guys cleaned my house?" A wide grin settled on Musa's features as she looked at her surroundings.

"What are friends for?" Flora smiled sweetly, putting the single ten dollar in her purse.

"Thanks," gushed Musa. "My dad would kill me if he wasn't working all the time. And my brother too."

"It's nothing," Stella dismissed it with a wave of her hand, leaning back on her palms as she adjusted herself on Musa's sofa. "So... are you going to ask him to prom?"

Musa slapped her forehead in annoyance. "God, I completely forgot about it being next Friday."

"Oh my gosh, me too," Bloom gasped. "Do any of you have a date? 'Cause I don't."

Aisha shrugged casually. "I might be going with Nabu. What about you?"

"Ugh, I wish I could go with Sky. But I'm not scandalous enough to steal someone else's man," the redhead gave a smirk. "Maybe I'll go with Andy. He's kind of cute."

"I'm going with Timmy, that cool kid who's my partner in Science."

"Obviously I'll be going with Helia."

Aisha threw a cushion in Flora's direction. "Did you _have_ to state the obvious?"

Stella opened her mouth to say something when Musa shot the blonde a question, "Hey, Stella, where _did_ you go last night?" the dark-haired girl said.

Stella smiled sheepishly. "Brandon was at the party and since I was hungry, we bailed and he took me out to eat hot dogs."

"Isn't that so sweet?" Bloom joked with a mocking grin.

"Since when did you eat hot dogs?" Musa raised an eyebrow questioningly. Everyone burst out laughing at this statement, while Stella sat as her face flushed red.

"Gosh, you're never going to let me live this down, are you?" the blonde huffed, cupping her face in her hands. "Yes, I ate hot dogs for the first time in like, forever."

"You, breaking your no-carbs streak for a boy," Aisha snickered. "You _must_ be in love."

As the laughter of her friends died down, Stella shrugged. "I might as well be. He is the literal epitome of gorgeous. You should have seen him without his glasses last night. I melted."

"So you keep saying," Flora hummed in response, "But when are you _actually_ going to ask him out?"

The blonde groaned in irritation when the other girls agreed with Flora.

"Ughhh, fine," Stella dragged her words when she told them hesitantly, "Tomorrow, after school. That's a promise."

* * *

 **THE DAY AFTER**

School had passed in a blur for Stella. The only thing that had been on her mind that day was the thought of finally asking Brandon out. She had managed to avoid him during Science, and she didn't even notice Mr Scott screaming in everyone's ear that period.

The girls had given her encouragement during break, but she hardly remembered what any of them had said. She was happy to see that Musa was back to her cheerful, tomboyish self again, but that didn't much distract Stella from the cloud of anxiety that loomed in her mind.

Before she knew it, the last bell had rang and Stella unwillingly and slowly shuffled out of History like a zombie, earning looks from others that she did not notice. _It's_ _time_ , the blonde thought to herself, feeling a knot of nervousness forming in her stomach.

By the time she entered the hallway, it was not as crowded, so Stella was relieved that she did not need to look for Brandon among so many people.

She scanned the people for Brandon and her eyes almost immediately landed on him - and if she wasn't nervous out of her mind right then, she would have smiled in delight at his outfit.

He was standing in front of his open locker, wearing a denim jacket over a plain white t-shirt and black jeans. Stella cursed at the fact that no matter what Brandon wore, he would absolutely rock it. The blonde was convinced that even if he wore a trashbag he would still look good.

"Brandon!" Stella called, and he looked up at the sound of his name. A smile made its way onto his face when he saw Stella coming towards him.

"Hey, Stella," he waved and turned to settle his books that were in his locker. He then continued with a grin, "How are you doing after I fed you carbs?"

"Not so bad actually," the blonde laughed nervously, forgetting her nervousness for a split second.

"That's good to hear," he chuckled, slinging his bag over his shoulder and slamming his locker shut, locking it.

"Hey, um, may I ask you a question?" Stella cleared her throat, starting to hear her heartbeat in her ears.

"Sure, go for it," he told her, shooting her a grin.

"So, I was-um, wondering..." she trailed off for a moment, feeling her heart screaming _just do it!_. The sooner it was done, the better. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and she inwardly blushed... she had never been this crazy about a boy before. The blonde put on an easy smile. "I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me sometime?"

Brandon's eyes widened as soon as those words left Stella's lips. He was so flabbergasted that he didn't realise his grip on his locker keys had loosened and they had dropped onto the floor with a loud _clink_.

"Brandon?" Stella called, and the brunet suddenly snapped out of his thoughts, bending down to pick up his keys.

"Sorry for that," he shook his head as he apologised, throwing his keys up into the air, swiftly catching them and putting them in his pocket.

"No worries," Stella shook her head. Growing slightly impatient, she asked him, "So... the answer to my question?" she chuckled lightly, trying to rid of the doubts that were starting to form in her mind. _No, this is all going wrong!_ Stella shouted to herself in her head.

"Yeah - I - um, I'm sorry, Stella, I-I'm, really, very flattered but I, uh-" the brunet paused, his eyes leaving hers and shifting to the floor. His hand found its way to the back of his neck, rubbing nervously. "I-I'm just not looking for love at the moment."

Stella felt her heart sink to the ground and she swore her heart had skipped at least two or three beats. _No, no, no, no, no, I knew I shouldn't have done this. Of course he would have said no. Of course he wouldn't like me like that._

"Th-that's fine," she finally managed to stutter out, barely hearing herself say over her own mortification. She ran a hand through her blonde locks, squeezing out the best smile she could. How she did, she didn't know. "I totally understand."

"So we're still good, yeah?" Brandon asked for confirmation, concern flashing in his chocolate eyes. The blonde almost burst out laughing at the irony. _No, we're definitely not._

"Of course," Stella lied through her teeth, her fake smile growing into a phony grin. "Wouldn't want to make it awkward, now would we?"

A smile that usually would make Stella weak in the knees found its way onto Brandon's face; in that moment, though, it just made her stomach twist in humiliation. "Thank you, though. I really _am_ flattered. I'm sure another guy would be lucky to have you."

Stella shrugged nonchalantly; or at least, that was how she hoped she looked like. Nonchalant. Casual. Unbothered. "I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow then," Brandon nodded and shot her a wink. _Tomorrow, of course_ , the girl gritted her teeth in frustration, not even noticing the small gesture that would have previously made her stomach do flips.

Stella turned away with the still false smile on her face, hoping her expression wouldn't betray how she really felt. Shame, regret, humiliation, sadness, all of the emotions swirled around in her head like a storm. Wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible, she sashayed down the hallway with a smug, sultry smile... like she wasn't rejected by her crush only a few moments before.

Like the rejection didn't tear her apart.

Like it didn't bother her at all.

Deep inside her, the truth was that she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

* * *

 **Author's Note** _: OMG guys it's been literally half a year since I updated O_O *buries face in shame* I'm so sorry this took so long. The past few months I've been having MAJOR writer's block and I literally freeze up every time I sit behind the screen. The only thing I've been able to write lately are one shots (which I will post in my other story, Perfect). Thankfully, the voice at the back of my head FINALLY convinced myself to shut everything out, sit down and just write for a few hours._

 _Shoutout to **angelalexandra** for giving me the motivation to write, I was seriously thinking of putting this story on hold until your review came along. So thank you!_

 _I'm sorry if you were looking forward to a lot of Stella and Brandon moments in this chapter, but I gotta add drama for some other characters too. But don't worry, you'll get a lot of them in the chapter after the next. Hopefully? *sweats nervously*_

 _I hope you liked this and as always please R &R!_


	5. Chapter 5

Stella was half asleep when she heard the first few opening chords of her ringtone play.

" _Duffle bag, back seat... my dash, your feet... those other side of the highway headlights making you shine..._ "

With a groan, Stella raised her mess of a blonde head from the pillow she was drooling on. She knew exactly who was calling her phone at this ungodly hour, and also knew exactly what that person wanted to say. She took a look at her surroundings and gave an unsatisfied grunt.

The sheets of the bed that she was lying on, once known for its beautiful, soft, white material, were now stained with junk food and was a little wet in some spots. A container full of popcorn was fully opened and the contents were spilled over the bed, some of them scattered on her laptop where the screen displayed the opening of a cheesy rom-com on Netflix.

The blonde then looked down on her outfit and almost laughed out loud at how ugly it was. She was wearing a pair of unicorn pyjamas she hadn't worn since she was fourteen. Crumbs fell off her body when she tried to sit up, and she noticed a dollop of mustard dripping down the extremely tight pants she was wearing.

She was a mess, and she knew it.

" _My hand, your leg... playlist playing... even though I haven't made it yet, I'm dragging it, dropping it in my mind..._ "

Stella scrambled to get her phone when she realised it was still ringing, the lines of one of her favourite songs snapping her back to reality. It took her a while to find it as it was buried under all the garbage she was surrounded by.

" _You're a drive real slow down an old lane road to a house on a hill where the wild things gr-_ "

" _WHAT?!_ " she screamed into the phone as soon as she hit answer. Not caring to hold the phone to her ear, she set it on speaker mode and set the phone on her lap.

Bloom did not at all seem fazed by the tone of volume her friend had used. The redhead spoke up cheerfully, "We're outside, and we're coming in right now."

"Invite yourself in, why won't you?" Stella said sarcastically, though the person on the line had already hung up on her. The blonde then threw her phone to the edge of the bed where it hit an empty can of Pringles.

In the next moment, Bloom and Flora stood in her doorway.

"Leave me alone," Stella grumbled when she noticed their presence, turning over to grab a pillow that lay by her side, hugging it tightly.

"Your room is in literal shambles," Flora stood with her eyes wide open, agape as she entered the bedroom.

"Just like I told you it would be," Bloom shrugged nonchalantly at the brunette, as if it was a normal thing she went through every day. She plopped down on the chair aside Stella's vanity.

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"Unfortunately I am."

Stella ignored their banter, covering her currently (what she thought was) hideous, bare face with her arm. She couldn't even listen to them even if she wanted to. The only thing that had ran through her mind that day was one thing, and one thing only.

Brandon's words, that had ripped her confidence, teared through her soul and solidified her humiliation.

" _Yeah, I'm sorry, Stella, I'm really flattered but I'm just not looking for love at the moment_."

The way he said those simple words, so easily, so _smoothly_ , it felt like a monster truck had run her over a million times. And needless to say, it shattered the blonde's heart.

And this was how she coped with it for the past 24 hours - burying herself in unhealthy junk food and sodas, watching stupid, cliche movies, and wearing ugly clothes, absolutely unbothered at the fact she had skipped school that day.

"If you two are quite done, I would like to be left alone," Stella mumbled almost incoherently, slowly bringing herself back into reality and out of her miserable thoughts when she noticed the conversation between Bloom and Flora had gotten heated.

Bloom rolled her fiery blue orbs in annoyance at her best friend's statement. "Come on, Stella, you can't seriously act like this over a _boy_ ," the redhead admonished with a scowl, pulling the pillow Stella was grasping onto away from the blonde, who involuntarily let it go.

Stella let out a huff of annoyance. "I can, okay? Now please leave me alone," she murmured half-heartedly, grabbing the nearest thing she could to use as a pillow to replace the one Bloom had taken from her. Unfortunately for the blonde, what appeared in her hand turned out to be an empty, crushed can of Coke.

"Stella, you barely know this guy," Flora stepped towards a bean bag to sit down, but not before dusting off crumbs of what she assumed used to be cheese crackers. "I mean, for God's sake, Stel, it's not like you guys were even together. You're acting like he _dumped_ your sorry ass. I can't imagine how you would act if you actually dated and then you broke up."

"I was so stupid... I should have known. I should have _known_ ," Stella steadily ignored the brunette's words, staring at the wall with a permanent frown on her face. "I should have _known_ the only reason why a guy like him would be single. It's because he _wants_ to be single!"

A heavy, frustrated sigh left Bloom's rosebud mouth. She _hated_ to see her friend like this - sprawled on the bed and miserable, wearing something she would have _burned_ if she were in the right state of mind. In fact, Bloom despised seeing any of her friends being crestfallen, _dejected_ over a mere boy who didn't deserve _half_ of their attention. But Stella was a completely different story.

She knew Stella had her heart broken many times before, and the redhead remembered the countless nights she spent wiping up the tears her best friend shed over a worthless boy, whispering soothing words into her ear, saying one day, she would eventually find someone who was worth every drop of her love. And that was why Stella only had casual hook-ups every once in a while... to avoid her heart being trampled and stomped on again.

The awkward silence was broken when Stella spoke up all of a sudden, the girl's tone surprisingly timid. "Look... I know I'm being a burden," she conceded softly, lifting her head slightly to face her two friends. "So like I said, leave me alone... you won't have to deal with me."

"You, my dear, will never be a burden," Bloom assured her firmly, getting up from her chair and pulling Stella up by her arms. She continued smoothly, "Come on, babe, let's get you cleaned up."

As Stella lazily but reluctantly got up from her disorganised bed, Flora looked at the empty wrappers on the floor, asking quizzically, "Did you honestly think he was worth pigging out on junk food for?"

"He took me out to eat _hotdogs_ ," Stella wailed in a childish manner as Bloom began stripping her out of her hideous outfit, like she was a five year-old toddler. "Of course I did."

"Well, the next time you pig out, it better be because all six of us are having a sleepover and movie night," the redhead chided, pulling down the absolutely horrendous pyjama pants Stella was clad in.

Flora started gathering the piles of trash atop Stella's bed, letting out a cry of disgust when she touched a wet spot on the bedsheet. "No kidding," she grimaced. "Jesus Christ, Stella, I've never seen you this disgusting before."

"Gee, thanks, Flora, that was really helpful," Bloom replied drily, handing a bath towel to Stella, who looked like she was about to pass out and fall asleep on the floor. After nudging her awake, Bloom dragged the disheveled girl to the door of her bathroom. "Come on now, blondie, go take a shower and wash out that filth out of your hair."

* * *

It was Stella's hundredth sigh that had left her lips that day. She was tired, undeniably tired, and extremely fatigued even though break only ended a few minutes ago. Opening the door of her locker, she realised that school had never been so draining for her.

It was Wednesday - the next day, and Stella had no idea how, but Bloom and Flora had somehow convinced her to wake up and drag herself to school that day. She was honestly unwilling to go do a single thing, but she didn't want to disappoint Bloom, Flora, Musa, Aisha and Tecna. Stella was absolutely and truly grateful for them, she knew that she would have spent another unproductive day in bed if it weren't for her friends.

The blonde took a look in the mirror that was plastered on the wall of her locker and gave a small smile. She had to admit she _did_ look good - that morning, Bloom had put on some makeup on her face and a smokey-eyed look that complimented her features nicely while Flora had curled her hair to perfection, something she didn't find the energy to do at that time.

She didn't know how long she stayed in front of her locker until her she heard the chatter of other students die down and she was left alone in the hallway.

Heaving yet another tired sigh, she turned to leave her locker and head to her next class when an oh-so familiar voice made her stop in her tracks and freeze on the spot.

"Hey Stella! Wait up!" He greeted cheerily, and Stella knew she had to turn around to face him. _Play it cool, Stel, act confident_ , she thought to herself, breathing in and out in an act of calming herself down. Slowly but steadily, she shifted herself to turn around and look at him.

Lo and behold, there stood the last person on Earth she wanted to see.

"Brandon," Stella acknowledged with a slight smile, but noticeably without enthusiasm. She felt the feeling of dread starting to pool in her chest. _Who am I kidding?_ she thought miserably. With every second and moment that passed of her staring at his face, Stella was reminded of the pain and embarrassment she was put through by him that fateful afternoon.

An honest smile was etched on Brandon's handsome features, and he had his bag slung over one arm and his reading glasses were perched on the top of his nose, as it always was during school hours.

"I missed you during Science yesterday," he informed her, scratching the back of his head in an adorable manner. "But you didn't really miss anything. Other than some homework, Mr Scott was being the usual pain in the ass."

"Sorry, I had personal problems," Stella nodded casually, her eyes darting at anything but the guy in front of her. It hurt her too much. "But that's cool."

"Okay," Brandon continued hesitantly, noticing Stella's lack of her usual exuberance and spirit. "Um, do you want me to send the details of the work to you?"

"Yeah, sure, you know my number and all," Stella shrugged, running a hand through her curled blonde locks, getting ready to leave and shutting her locker door close, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I guess I'll see you when I see you."

Brandon's eyebrows rose in surprise at the curt reply, but he shrugged it off. _Probably just rushing to her next class_ , he thought to himself. He held up a hand and placed it on Stella's shoulder before she could leave. "Hold on, I have something to ask you."

Stella almost gasped out loud when she felt him stop her, feeling a dozen fireworks explode in her stomach at his simple touch. The blonde let it linger for a moment before she quickly brushed off his hand and turned to see his face. "What is it?" she questioned with an eyebrow raised, trying not to sound flustered but her tone coming out unintentionally harsh.

Brandon didn't seem to notice it though. Putting on an easy smile, he asked her, "Do you have a date for prom? Has anyone asked you out yet?" Brandon then shook his head vigorously, his glorious brown locks moving with him. "Well that was a stupid question. Of course someone has." He shot her a sheepish smile, his hand found its spot on the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I'm just asking because I have no idea who I'm going with. Moving schools towards the end of the school year sucks, am I right? I don't know that many people."

Truth be told, prom and everything related to it had completely slipped Stella's mind. Usually she would have been so excited for anything that included dressing up with gorgeous dresses, trying out new hairstyles, and dolling herself up, but with everything that had happened with her life lately, she didn't find the time to make room in her mind for something so trivial.

"I'm sorry, if I could help you, I would, but I have no idea if anyone still has no date, especially when prom is only two days away," Stella pursed her lips, shaking her head sympathetically. _Lies_. Those were all lies; she did know someone who had no date for prom - and that was herself. "And yes, I actually do have a date, thank you for asking."

"Ooh, who's the lucky guy?" Brandon wiggled his eyebrows in anticipation, pausing before continuing cheekily, "...Or girl?"

Stella felt the urge to laugh out loud, but held it inside her. It was no laughing matter... _No one. It was supposed to be you_. "That's for me to know and for you to... never know."

Brandon groaned in disappointment, but his tone was still light and playful. He nudged her in the arm. "Aw come on, you can tell me. We're friends, aren't we?"

And that was enough for Stella. She felt something snap in her when those words tumbled out of the brunet's mouth. _How **DARE** he joke about something like this when not less than 72 hours before, he had broken her heart like it was nothing!_ It was too much for her. Stomping her foot in frustration, she sighed exasperatedly and spat, " _No_ , Brandon. We are _not_ friends."

A small part of Stella would have hurt to see Brandon's trademark smile falter and turn into a gigantic frown at her sudden and ruthless words, but in that moment, the anger was blinding her and her entire body felt like it was on fire. "Uhm... okay, I'm lost. What happened?" he questioned, sounding concerned and confused at the same time.

"We met, we hung out, we got close, I s-started liking you, so I asked you out... but you-you... you _rejected_ me!" Stella finally raised her voice, her anger so intense she could barely form coherent sentences and get her words out. " _That's_ w-what happened, Brandon!"

Brandon looked taken aback at the change of volume. "I-I...Wh-I thought we were still good?" he stuttered, the shock hitting him so hard it felt like someone had dumped his head into a bucket full of freezing cold water.

"Well guess what, Brandon, I _lied_ ," the blonde seethed resentfully, hardly keeping her full temper in check. "I didn't want to sound like a brat who couldn't accept rejection!"

"Stel-" Brandon started to speak, but was silenced when Stella held up her hand.

"No, I wasn't finished," she shut him up sharply, finally feeling her anger overpower her. There was only one emotion running through her veins, and that was rage. "I didn't want to sound like someone who couldn't accept things as the way they were and move on, but all I _feel_ when I look at you is _pain_ because... because you don't _want_ me."

Guilt flashed in Brandon's eyes, and Stella felt glad. _Good_ , she thought unmercifully. She wanted him to feel the same agony she did when she hid herself under her covers, consuming the unhealthiest crap she's ever eaten. _Never again_. "And guess what, I don't even _have_ a date for prom, because you know why? It was supposed to be _you!_ "

Brandon opened his mouth to protest but was silenced once again, this time by the ferocious glare the blonde sent his way. "No, you know what? Just save it, Brandon. I don't want to hear it. Good luck finding your _date_." She spat scornfully as she turned on her heel and strutted down the hallway, leaving a very confused and guilty man behind.

As soon as she turned a corner and was out of Brandon's sight, Stella sobered up from her anger and she realised every single word that had left her lips. Horrified, she leaned against the wall and slid down until her butt touched the floor, her face crumpling up as she burst into silent sobs, tears furiously pouring down her face.

 ** _What have I done?_**

* * *

A gloomy silence hung over the room, destroying any shred of joy left in Stella's body. She stared dolefully at the wall of Flora's bedroom, repeatedly slapping a flexible ruler on the floor a little too harshly.

"Stel, you're gonna tear a hole through my carpet," Flora chided half-jokingly, tying her long brown hair into a high ponytail. Stella turned her gaze to her friend and felt a twist of envy run through her. Now that her hair was out of the way, she could see that Flora's face was glowing, and her makeup was perfect, the highlight on her cheekbones showing off her sharp features.

"You look good," Stella told her truthfully, remembering that her face was all natural and bare. Her makeup was ruined after she had cried her eyes out earlier, and she had no will and energy to put it on again.

Flora cachinnated, beaming appreciatively. "Thanks honey." After adding a few more touch-ups to her outfit and slinging her bag over her shoulder, she asked the blonde, "Are you ready?"

"Ugh, do I even have a choice?" Stella groaned, falling back and lying on the floor lazily. "Why did I agree to follow you to your boyfriend's house in the first place?"

Flora smiled. "Because you have nothing better to do," she told her friend, pulling her up by her arms, groaning when she realised Stella weighed more than Flora thought she did. "...And because you're a good friend."

"Thanks. I know I'm heavy."

After much harrassing and dragging and pulling and groaning, Flora had finally managed to get the unwilling Stella out of her room, down the stairs and into the car.

The ride wasn't that long, and the two girls stayed in a comfortable silence throughout the drive. There was nothing for them to talk about - it was all let out when Stella had showed up at Flora's doorstep, a crying, sobbing mess. And Flora with no hesitation had brought her in, cuddled her and kept her warm, providing an endless amount of comfort.

When Flora pulled up in front of Helia's house, he was already standing in wait, a massive smile on his face. Without waiting for Stella, Flora zoomed out of the car and jumped into her boyfriend's arms as if seeing him for the first time in years.

"Thanks for waiting for me, Flo," Stella mumbled cheerlessly when she opened the car door, producing laughs and chuckles from the couple beside her.

"Hey, Stella," Helia greeted her, his arms wrapped around his giggling girlfriend. He started walking towards the front door of the house, with Flora in tow. "Come on, come inside!"

"Um, you know what, it's fine," Stella shook her, waving a hand in protest. "I'll just go and sit by the pond at the back. I need some fresh air. You guys won't be long, right?"

Helia and Flora shared a meaningful look at this statement, a look which Stella didn't notice. "Yeah-no, we'll just be a couple minutes," Flora nodded in confirmation.

"You're welcome to come in whenever you want," Helia assured Stella before turning back, throwing his arm over Flora's shoulder and heading inside his house.

When she was left alone, Stella let go of a breath she didn't know she held. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she slowly walked to the backyard, where she always hung around whenever she dropped by at Helia's house.

There were two benches that sat adjacent to each other, where they faced a pond full of koi fish, set under a pretty, simple fountain that always calmed Stella's nerves when she gazed at it.

She took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air, enjoying the gentle breeze of the wind that swayed through the bushes surrounding the mini pond.

She walked towards one of the benches, intending to sit and appreciate the coolness of the night, but did not notice a figure sitting on one of the two benches until he cleared his throat.

When Stella turned to face him, all the peace and tranquility that ran through her veins left as soon as she recognised his face.

"Oh _God_ , someone wake me up from this _nightmare_ ," the blonde couldn't help but cry angrily at seeing Brandon's face. "You must be _kidding_ me right now!"

Brandon got up, putting his hands up in defence. "Hey, I didn't know you would be here," he explained himself clearly but firmly, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Seems convenient that you show up at times I don't want to see you most," Stella spat indignantly, crossing her arms against her chest. She turned to leave, feeling the knot of anger in her stomach about to burst for the second time that day.

"Wait - Stella... can you just listen to me, please?" Brandon told pleadingly, his tone softening immensely.

Stella immediately stiffened, but did not turn around. As much as Stella hated to admit it, even though he did break her heart, his soft voice would always be a weakness for her. Stella could just _see_ how he looked like in that moment without even turning around - his hand on the back of his neck, as it always was when he was nervous, the other hand in his pocket, and his glorious brown eyes just _begging_ for him to be listened to.

And slowly, she did turn around. And damn, he was in that _exact_ position she'd imagined he would be... although Stella did not expect his eyes to be so sorrowful yet at the same time, so beautiful under the moonlight.

"I-please, Stella, I promise just five minutes, and I'll be out of your hair," he continued begging, waving his hand aimlessly in the air.

After a moment of silence, the blonde gave a stiff nod. "I'm listening," she told him quietly, but in a tone which told him that she would leave the second he tried to do anything stupid.

Brandon sighed in relief. "Thank you," he replied gratefully. He ran a hand through his brown locks, his eyes leaving hers for a split second. "Listen, I... I apologise for making you feel like that. I just... I do care about you, Stella, and you're a great girl, and I would still love to be friends with you."

Now Stella felt the guilt seeping through her bones. Earlier, as soon as she calmed down from her tears, she knew she had overreacted - it was her damn temper again, always ruining everything. The guilt had entered her then, but now, seeing Brandon face-to-face, it was unbearable.

But Brandon wasn't finished. "Stella..." he began gently. "I haven't had a good experience in love based on my past relationships. That doesn't mean that you won't be different from anyone who has ever hurt me before. But... I still just need time to heal."

"I don't meet many people that I care about. And I don't want you out of my life because of my inability to trust people. Maybe, one day... we could turn into something more... but for now, can we just stay as friends?"

"Of course we can," Stella nodded sheepishly, and this time it was her turn to run a hand through her hair. "Uh, Brandon... I'm sorry for yelling at you like that. That was completely out of line."

"It's nothing," Brandon answered, a small smile finally landing on his mouth for the first time since that afternoon. "I'm so glad Helia and Flora set this up."

" _WHAT?!_ " Stella stared at him in shock. "I'm going to kill those bi-"

"Hey, calm down, calm down," Brandon widened his eyes, putting his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm the angry blonde down. "If they didn't do this, there would still be tension between us and you wouldn't like that, would you?"

Stella's eyes were trained to the ground, and she nodded, signalling that she understood what he was trying to say.

"Good," Brandon said approvingly. "Now do you think you're able to forgive those two idiots?"

"Fine..." a teasing smile played on Stella's lips as she looked back up at him, and Brandon knew that that wasn't all. "But only one condition." _There it was_.

A pleasant laugh escaped Brandon's mouth as he threw his head back from his mirth. "Always a catch, isn't there?" he answered knowingly, amusement threaded in his words. Zeroing his eyes on the blonde, he tilted his head in curiousity. "And may I ask what that is?"

"You go to prom with me," the girl proclaimed chirpily, grabbing and slightly shaking his arm for confirmation - though in truth, he didn't really have much of a choice. She looked up at him with hopeful, expectant eyes. "As friends, of course."

Brandon chuckled with a beaming grin, but panic started to seep in when he felt the butterflies at the bottom of his stomach starting to flutter at the sight of Stella's beautiful golden orbs. "How can I say no?" he commented, his smile easily hiding his alarm.

At those words, Stella squealed with immense glee and jumped up and down ecstatically like a 4 year old in a candy store, vigorously shaking the poor guy's arm in the process. Brandon, though, was not at all disturbed by this action, instead trying to process the startling thought that had just crossed his mind.

"I'm sorry that I'm so excited. It's just that Bloom bet that I would go to prom alone, and I want to prove her wrong for once." the girl explained herself to the person beside her, who unfortunately was hardly paying attention to what she was saying. "Hey Brandon?"

"Hm?" with the sound of his name snapping him back to reality, Brandon shook his head slightly, hoping that Stella didn't notice that he wasn't listening. It didn't seem like it... thankfully.

"I'm so glad that we're okay again." Stella mused delightedly, a content sigh leaving her lips.

A genuine smile settled on Brandon's face when he heard that statement. "Me too, Stella. Me too."

Little did Stella know of the fact that the feeling of growing dread and impending doom was starting to make its way into Brandon's stomach.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note** : Heya! I wanted to post this chapter along with chapter 6 as a double update, but I didn't want to make you wait a few more weeks when it's already been about a month since I updated, so here it is. Hopefully chapter 6 will be released soon; my prediction is in a few weeks._

 _Hope you enjoyed it, and please R &R!_


End file.
